Traditionally beer, cider and other fermented beverages are served in public houses, bars, and restaurants directly from a keg connected to a tapping column by a dispense tube. Dispensing of the beverage is driven by a source of pressurized gas in fluid communication with the interior of the keg by means of a gas tube, such as to raise the pressure inside the keg above atmospheric pressure and at a level sufficient for driving the beverage from the keg up to the tapping column via the dispense tube. Beverage flow is controlled by a tapping valve located at the top portion of the column.
The tapping principle remains the same for both traditional metal kegs wherein a propellant is introduced in the keg in direct contact with the beer and for bag-in-containers comprising an inner, collapsible bladder or bag containing the beverage to be dispensed, which is contained in an outer, more rigid container have been used. Recently, cost effective bag-in-containers have been developed allowing their extensive use in mass consumer goods such as beer kegs, cider kegs, and the like (cf. e.g., EP2146832, EP2148770, WO2010/031764, EP2152494, EP2152494, EP2152486, EP2152486, EP2148771).
Keg connectors for traditional metal kegs are known from EP0455650 comprising:
(a) a connector base body;
(b) coupling means for firmly and releasably coupling the keg connector to an opening of the container;
(c) a support element movable in a longitudinal direction Z with respect to the base body, said support element supporting:
(d) a tube comprising a penetration end extending along a longitudinal axis Z and an opposite end portion for connecting to a dispense tube or propellant tube;
(e) a penetration actuation means for reversibly moving by a given distance along the longitudinal axis, Z, the tube penetration end of said fluid connector, from a first retracted position, Z0, to a second connected position, Z2, wherein said distance is sufficient for the tube penetration end to penetrate into the opening provided on a closure of said container.
Contrary to traditional kegs, the dispense tube and gas tube in bag-in-containers need be connected to separate parts of the keg, the former in fluid communication with the interior of the inner bladder, and the latter with the headspace between the bladder and the outer container. Note that the use of a dispense sword is not mandatory with bag-in-container types of kegs, contrary to conventional kegs. To this effect, bag-in-container type of kegs are usually provided with a closure comprising two separate openings: a dispense opening in contact with the interior of the inner bladder and a gas opening in contact with the headspace between inner bladder and outer container. Examples of closures suitable for bag-in-container types of kegs are disclosed in WO2009/090224, WO2009/090223, WO2012004223. It is clear that with such design the traditional keg connectors discussed above cannot be used. CA2012647 proposes a simple solution by providing a bung provided with two openings with corresponding valves and coupling means for independently coupling a dispense tube and a gas tube. For example, snap fit connections as disclosed in EP0905044 can be used as coupling means. This solution has the inconvenient that each tube must be connected one after the other which is long and tedious and the tubes could be coupled to the wrong opening.
To simplify the coupling operation, WO201100621, EP0444596, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,699,298, 4,089,444, 3,905,522, 3,527,391 and 3,228,413 propose keg connectors comprising a clamp ring provided with an inner screw thread mating an external screw thread provided in the keg neck or closure. As the clamp ring is being screwed tight, the dispense tip and gas tip of parallel and separate dispense and gas connecting means are driven down through the dispense opening and gas opening provided in the keg closure. The problem with threaded clamp rings is that one is never sure whether the keg connector is fully coupled to the keg or not and also that, since the penetration of the dispense tip and gas tip through the originally sealed dispensing opening and gas opening may require some force, the required force is not always easy to provide by a screwing movement in a generally uncomfortable position. The maximum leverage afforded by a screw type clamp ring is limited to the size of grasp of a human hand, i.e., ca 10-15 cm) which is quite insufficient for the levels of forces required.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,374,927 discloses a keg connector suitable for bag-in-containers, comprising a latch member provided with a handle allowing the keg connector to be coupled to the container. Once the keg connector is firmly coupled to the keg, the tips of dispense and gas connecting means are pressed down by hand to pierce corresponding sealed openings. Although the handle gives leverage which facilitates coupling of the connector, the manual pressing down of the dispense and gas connecting means remains uncomfortable.
EP2719656 discloses a keg connector which can be coupled very easily to bag-in-container type of kegs comprising an opening, the keg connector comprising:
(a) a connector base body;
(b) coupling means for firmly and releasable coupling the keg connector to the opening of the container;
(c) a support element movable in a longitudinal direction Z with respect to the base body, said support element supporting:
(d) a tube comprising a penetration end portion parallel to the longitudinal axis, Z, and suitable for penetrating into the opening;
(e) penetration actuation means for reversibly moving by a given distance along the longitudinal axis, Z, the support element and tube, upon movement of the support element when the base body is coupled to said opening, from a first retracted position, Z0, to a second connected position, Z2, wherein said distance is sufficient for the tube penetration end to penetrate into the opening provided on a closure of said container. A drawback of a connector as disclosed in EP2719656 is that upon extensive usage, the connector base body and support element tend to get clogged, rendering it difficult to couple or decouple the keg connector from a keg.
The present invention addresses the above problem and provides a keg connector that has the ease of use of a keg connector as disclosed in EP2719656, yet is suited for extensive use without loosing its functionality and user friendliness. This and other advantages of the present invention are presented in continuation.